Philippe Gilbert prolongs title in Paris Tours. Belgian
in form of his life after winning Coppa Sabatini and Paris Tours in one week.
Gilbert wins battle of three with Boonen in second and Bozic in third.

Silence-Lotto's Philippe Gilbert continued his excellent Autumn form by prolonging
his crown as champion of Paris -Tours by repeating his victory in the 2009 edition.
The Belgian, who won the Coppa Sabatini on Wednesday, was the best of an elite
break of three beating Belgian Champion Tom Boonen and Vuelta stage winner Borut
Bozic of Slovenia in the sprint. The three attacked with less than 8 km to go
to hold off the first chasing group by 16 seconds. Italian Champion Filippo
Pozzato and three-times World Champion Oscar Freire completed the top five.
Silence-Lotto is really impressive lately after the poor first part of the season
with the wins of Philippe Gilbert and the World title of Cadel Evans. The 103rd edition over 230 km was animated by a break of ten including
Martin Elmiger and Cédric Pineau (Ag2r la Mondiale), Matthieu Ladagnous
(Française des Jeux), Damien Gaudin (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Jean-Luc
Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller), Jonathan Thiré (Auber 93), Matthew Haymann
(Rabobank), Aart Vierhouten (Vacansoleil), Tom Veleers (Skil Shimano) and Lazlo
Bodrogi (Katusha). The break formed after 50 km and gathered a maximum lead
of 7.15 after 100 km of racing.

As the wind was not in favor of the riders, Garmin hammered the pedals at the front of the peloton
to set up some echelons. Due to this riders as Thomas Voeckler and German sprinter
André Greipel dropped off the back. The latter one abandoned the race
a few kilometers ahead. In no-time the gap of the ten in front dropped from
seven minutes to less than two minutes with 60 km to go.

The first one to attack in the break was Jonathan Thire (Auber 93) with 56 km
to go but his attempt was neutralized 3 km later. The ten stayed together and
with 30 km to go they still had a lead of one minute over the bunch led by the
Belgian teams of Quick-Step and Silence-Lotto.

Thire tried again with 28 km remaining forming a new break of eight riders as
Martin Elmiger and Damien Gaudin couldn't handle the pace. In the bunch
we got some counter attacks of Rony Martias, Jurgen Roelandts and others but
nobody was able to get away. In front Jonathan Thire had to pay for his efforts
and dropped off the break together with Laszlo Bodrogi. The six remaining riders
in front Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Tom Veelers (Skil Shimano), Aart Vierhouten
(Vacansoleil), Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller), Cédric Pineau (AG2R-La
Mondiale) and Matthieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux) turned into the
final 15 km with a lead of 25 seconds.

With 14 km to go Tom Veelers, winner of a stage in the Qinghai Lake this year,
launched an attack but his attempt was neutralized on the Côte de l'Epan
(500 m - 8%). After the L'Epan the riders had to climb the Côtes de Pont
Volant (400 m - 7%) and the Petit Pas de l'Ane (500 m -7%) all within the final
ten kilometers.

On the L'Epan it was Silence-Lotto's Greg van Avermaet who opened the battle
for the victory followed by Belgian Tom Boonen. Boonen decided not to wait for
a possible bunch sprint with fast man Tyler Farrar in the bunch. Van Avermaet
and Boonen found each other and got the company of Slovenian Borut Bozic and last
year's winner Philippe Gilbert.

On the Côte du Pont volant Greg van Avermaet dropped off the break. The
three remaining riders in front Boonen, Gilbert and Bozic had a lead of over
10 seconds on the first chaser Italian Champion Filippo Pozzato. In the final
five kilometers of the race the bunch split into several parts due to a crash
in the middle of the bunch on a narrow road. This situation was in favor of
the three in front as the cohesion was gone. Behind the crash Cervélo TestTeam's Roger Hammond and Saxo Bank's J.J. Haedo were trapped and had to wait to pick up the chase, effectively putting them out of contention.

Filippo Pozzato couldn't get any closer either; but was able to hold off the first
chasr group for fourth position. In the final 500 meters of the race Philippe
Gilbert launched an attack. Bozic reacted but gave up his efforts immediately.
Boonen reacted and started his sprint, but as Bozic slowed from exhaustion Tom was stopped and had to come around the sprinter. He put in a strong effort to clos to Gilbert but he was too late. As a result Gilbert took the win and could prolong
his crown of Paris -Tours by repeating his victory in this year's edition.